What do you use D&D minis for and why do you buy them?

[ViVaLaFrance]

I love the pre-painted miniatures!

The reason why I continue to purchase and use this product is not for the quality of the paint job, but as a DM my players want me working on the plot---not painting. Since my work schedule uses up most of my free time during the week the pre-painted miniatures work out perfectly for me.

The only thing I want now is a method to purchase exactly what I need and the quantity. I just don't have the time to hunt down 25 xxxx miniatures on ebay and deal with all the crap on that site. So, if you really want to make DM's happy, offer a method to purchase specific mini's...

 

[Li Shenron]

I wouldn't even mind the randomization if the monsters had a rarity based upon the MM1/MM2/FF's rarity (i.e. Carrion Crawlers, Vrocks, Ogres and Troglodytes would be common, Ochre Jelly and Trolls would be uncommon, etc.)

This is another important point that IMHO is not often discussed. Even if random, at least if the expansions were organized more sistematically it would be better. They are somewhat themed Dragoneye=draconic creatures, Archfiends=outsiders and so on, but at the same time the majority does not belong to the theme. I would prefer that they were sorted for example as common D&D low-CR creatures, undead, player characters... Also it is not nice to have a bunch of Eberron creatures in a set, if I am not going to play Eberron I will have unuseful minis, while if I am going to play the setting then I will need to purchase many boxes of different sets... why not having an Eberron-specific set instead? Obviously this must be a marketing issue good for the company, but not good for the customer.

 

[Djeta Thernadier]

We use them in our games mostly. We also have a few of the cooler ones on Display , the dragons etc. until we need them for a game.

I have Snig the Axe on my desk at work (I think he's adorable!).

It's also sort of a collecting thing for MojoGM and I. We buy them and enjoy building up the collection. You never know when they'll come in handy.

But primarily it's for use in the game.

 

[MerricB]

Also it is not nice to have a bunch of Eberron creatures in a set, if I am not going to play Eberron I will have unuseful minis, while if I am going to play the setting then I will need to purchase many boxes of different sets... why not having an Eberron-specific set instead?

The designers have recently revealed that there aren't going to be that many Eberron-themed miniatures in any set. To quote Mike Donais:

I have seen the set lists up to set 8 and we have between 0 and 5 minis that could be construed as Eberron (per set).

In some of those cases it is only a prestige class from Eberron or something similar so it is really hard to tell that it is an Eberron mini at all.

I wouldn't worry about us going crazy and making a whole set of Eberron minis.

With regard to themed sets... I wonder how many people actually play in the Forgotten Realms compared to the number of people playing D&D as a whole. Does 20% sound too high? If so, it gives you an idea why they prefer not devoting one set to an entire world: the returns wouldn't be worth it.

Cheers!

 

[Zappo]

I use them for paperweights.

Eer, not really, I just don't use minis in D&D.

 

[EricNoah]

I have 1-1/2 sets (I got a freebie, and then I kept a few of the "ickier" figs from another set I bought for a friend's young child). I use them as generic markers (another friend brings painted metal minis) and they usually only roughly correspond to the creature they are supposed to represent. They are easier to pick up than counters or poker chips. I don't feel a compelling urge to collect them but I think I would buy non-randomized minis depending on how they bundled them.